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Queen of the Dark Elves - story and illustrations

    • 129 posts
    April 11, 2018 10:06 AM PDT

    First, let me introduce myself quickly, I make drawings and illustrations as a hobby (I'm on deviantart, nickname is bolorny), and drawing a pic always comes with a little background story.

    Also, excuse my english, as I am French, I might make some mistakes.

    Still here ? Good.

     

    Unlike in traditionnal fantasy, in my own fantasy universe, Dark Elves are not evil, and not in conflict with other elves tribes.

    Dark Elves live apart from the other Elven tribes, they are kind of an elite society with a harsh rite of passage to adulthood. (If you know of the Spartan Society from Ancient Greece, it has similarities).

    From the age of five, and for ten years, the young dark elf (regardless male or female) goes on strict training.

    They are taught martial arts, usage of weapons and shields, battle tactics, as well as their peoples' history and traditions.

    During those ten years, they have to build a strong and tough body, as their rite of passage to adulthood consists of laying on a wall, to endure getting rammed a mimimum of 10 hits. The survival rate of this test is usually around twenty percent.

    It may look barbaric from another society's point of view, but the dark elves see this test a way to make sure their people remain strong, as in strong parents will breed strong children.

    Strength and toughness are the most valuable ideals in the dark elven society.

    Those who survive the ten ram hits may go further than ten, the more they endure, the higher rank in the society they will be able to claim as a reward.

    A vast majority stops at ten hits, those who have ambitions trained themselves harder and can go up to fifteen to become a Lieutenant, or twenty hits to become a General.

    But once in a while, an exceptionnal being emerges.

    The princess, extremely motivated to prove her parents how great she can be, has gone through self-invented extreme training during those ten years.

    The day of her fifteen's birthday, as tradition obliges, she went through the ramming test.

    She passed the ten hits with ease, and confident in her own body, she asked to go on : "Don't stop until I tell you !"

    Hit after hit, the cracks on the wall behind her back kept growing, much like the pain on her abdominal muscles, but she already went through this pain during her training, and she knew how much farther she could go, so she kept silent.

    When she reached the previous record of twenty-three, held by her own mother, the current Queen, the audience was in awe in regards to this outstanding performance.

    But she kept silent, and nodded at the ram user to keep going.

     

    The pain was barely endurable, but she focused all her energy on keeping a solid stomach to avoid getting crushed by the ram, hits after hits, she kept going.

    She had already lost count when she shouted "ENOUGH !" while collapsing on the ground.

    She woke up a hour later, in her bedroom. As she opened her eyes, she saw her mother, the Queen, was watching her, her eyes filled with pride and joy.

    "My dear daughter, I'm so proud of you ! You made history there !" and grabbed her for a hug.

    "oww ! owwww ! It still hurts you know!"

    "Oh, sorry ! The medic has tend to your bruises, but it stilll takes a few hours to heal. Rest now, tomorrow we will have a great ceremony in your honor"- she said, bowing to her future Queen.

    And then, the crowning ceremony happend.

    The new Queen was given the Royal Garment of the Dark Elves, consisting of three Ancient Artifacts :

    -Kai'Duna, Blessing of the Goddess
    -Jadan'Del, Ancient Crown of the Ruler
    -Anadal'Fala, Armband of the Mighty

    Hail to the Queen :

     

    Kai'Duna, Blessing of the Goddess is the two floating ribbons/scarfs, was given to the Dark Elf people by their Goddess Kai, in the ancient times, during the Gods War, to protect them from Divine Disasters caused by their clashes.

    Jadal'Del, Ancient Crown of the Ruler was the first Dark Elf King (Jadal) 's crown, it is an ancient magical artifact, granting its bearer Absolute Authority over his kind. Dark Elves cannot refuse the bearer's commands.

    Anadal'Fala, Armband of the Mighty, was a gift to the third Dark Elf Ruler, and first Queen Fala (Anadal'Fala translates as Fala's glory), gift made by a talented jewelcrafter of that time, whose name sadly got lost in ages. It grants its user immensively increased both defensive and offensive power.

     

    Hope you liked it, I'm not a great writer nor a great illustrator, but I try my best !

     


    This post was edited by bobwinner at April 12, 2018 4:49 AM PDT
    • Moderator
    • 9115 posts
    April 11, 2018 5:49 PM PDT

    Nice job, my friend! I did, however, have to edit the "Warning" section as it wasn't needed, we are all open-minded and respectful here, plus I went ahead and moved it to off-topic as it is not Pantheon related and Fan Creations is for Pantheon related fan work.

    Great post though, keep it up :)

    • 129 posts
    April 12, 2018 4:48 AM PDT

    Ahh ok,

    When the post disappeared from the fan creation subforum, I was like "wut ?!", as I didn't receive any notification or mail about it (you might want to add this feature).

    I actually found this thread again only through google (omg they know everything) !